


Doodle Writings (Sheith)

by ThirteenSocks



Series: Doodle Writing [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Additional tags within, M/M, Omega Keith (Voltron), Pregnant Keith (Voltron), Trans Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-07 15:58:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 11,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16857010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirteenSocks/pseuds/ThirteenSocks
Summary: Collection of my doodle writings and AUs from Tumblr





	1. Youtuber AU

 

Keith is a gamer on youtube and Shiro, having just returned from being a p.o.w., watches Keith’s videos because it’s a good, easy, and enjoyable distraction. It starts one night when he wakes up at 2am, dripping in sweat, and heart throwing itself against his ribcage. He’s terrified; he feels trapped and claustrophobic. So he reaches a shaky hand, his good one, his flesh-and-bone-and-blood one, to his nightstand for his tablet. He’d read but he can’t concentrate. He’d talk but there’s nobody to talk to. He could send an im off to Colleen, a woman he’s come to consider his mother, but he doesn’t want to wake her. She’s grieving enough.

So he goes into youtube and finds a video of someone playing a classic game, one of Shiro’s favorites from when he had parents and a home to call his own and his only worry was studying. 

The production value isn’t stellar. The man has a cozy 1,000 odd subs. But he’s wittyone minute in and Shiro’s laughing by 5. So he binges the rest of the series over the next few days when the panic settles in.

A few months pass and Shiro finally gets the courage to comment. Keith has picked up a few hundred more subs and is posting daily by then. It’s on a vlog that Shiro says something, after Keith discloses about his rough childhood.

They begin to talk in the comments, and then move to DMs on another platform.

They fall in love slowly, as slowly as Shiro opens up, and as slowly as Keith takes to trust.

The full burden of healing is not, and will never be, on Keith. But it’s easier for Shiro to manage having someone rooting for him, inspiring him, and taking the time to love him. So he starts making videos about his life, videos made to reach out to those who have been pows, or in the military, or been through any type of trauma. It’s cathartic to open up and soon he finds others who share in his experiences.

Their viewers like to joke that Shiro and Keith have uhauled, because they move in together and it’s not a few months before they’re engaged. And, it is kind of true.

The two keep making content, knowing how healing it was when they would watch other’s videos.


	2. Old Married Couple

Even if Shiro and Keith were only married for a year, Shiro’s no older than 35, the two would still talk and act like an old married couple. They’d be in bed no later than their bedtime of 9. Shiro loves to go fishing on the weekend. They have a ”competition” between each other on who can complete the newspaper’s crossword first. Their house is really quiet, but full and cozy (Keith’s an artist and he loves decorating). Hungry and between paychecks? Invite yourself over to the Shirogane house. (You won’t be getting Hunk-level of cooking, but the two have worked hard to make decent food.) The one candy bowl on the table that also has some travel books on it. The cheesy souveneirs they send everyone from all the planets they visit. When kids finally come into the picture, it’s like they’ve always had them for how natural they are at it.

But perhaps favorite of all, including Keith, because Lance has absolutely discussed this with them, is the sight of Shiro napping on his rocking chair. He snores, his neck stretched back. But it’s sweet. In the winter, Keith will go fetch pillows and blankets and carefully bundle Shiro. And he watches Shiro, eyes shining with the love of someone whose watching the stars shine.

You leave with a tupperware stuffed full of leftovers, but a heart even fuller.


	3. Role Swap

As a result he internalizes it and it takes him awhile to be comfortable in Red. Because she’s about using innate abilities of strength, passion, and fire. Black is Shiro’s true lion and because of that Shiro convinces her to take Keith, just until Keith is ready to be himself again. The ”leadership” aspect of being in black is still shared between Shiro, Keith, and even Allura. Keith’s choked out his fire so it’s easier for him to be in black. At least until he’s healed enough where he feels comfortable and capable to be fire and not burn everything and everyone down.

AU where Keith was chronically ill and went to Kerberos because though Shiro was already chosen, he knew this would be Keith’s only shot, so he bows out and threatens to quit entirely if they don’t send Keith. Knowing, of course, there is no way they’d let go of their best pilot, even if they grit their teeth through it and make Shiro swear to tell no one that the military bent over blackmail (is the official story. But Shiro knows that Iverson fought tooth-and-nail behind closed doors; which is the real reason Keith is cleared to go. 

AU where Keith was chronically ill and went to Kerberos because though Shiro was already chosen, he knew this would be Keith’s only shot, so he bows out and threatens to quit entirely if they don’t send Keith. Knowing, of course, there is no way they’d let go of their best pilot, even if they grit their teeth through it and make Shiro swear to tell no one that the military bent over blackmail (is the official story. But Shiro knows that Iverson fought tooth-and-nail behind closed doors; which is the real reason Keith is cleared to go.

Keith fights similar to Shiro, if more agile and strong due to his galra blood.

Word gets out of a half-galra being a champion, which brings another element to the table when Lotor enters the scene later on.

Keith gets scooped up by Ulaz and is sent back to Earth. His return carries the extra weight of knowing his ancestry, and he grapples with the first-hand experience of galra cruelty and how he could be one of them. Up to that point, Ulaz was the only decent galra he’s met.

The garrison doesn’t manage to strap him down. He’s too strong especially now that he’s learned the potential of his physicality. So he runs to Shiro’s room. He knows that they will check for him there so he scribbles a note, ”meet me at the shack,” and takes his hoverbike back from the garage and flies out there.

The other three hear whispers amongst the higher ups, and Pidge sets up her equiptment to find out what’s happened.

Keith’s dealing with the ptsd is different. For him, a kid headed to juvey, he’s long ago resigned himself to being a good-for-nothing. The arena reawakens these feelings and soon enough he feels like he’s never been anything but a monster. Unlike Shiro who, even if his past was like Keith’s, and we dont know that, he’s blossomed into a kind and much loved man. Shiro has a gentle nature, and it’s hard for him to have to have done what he did. Keith is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy of, ”I’m going to just keep fucking up.”

As a result he internalizes it and it takes him awhile to be comfortable in Red. Because she’s about using innate abilities of strength, passion, and fire. Black is Shiro’s true lion and because of that Shiro convinces her to take Keith, just until Keith is ready to be himself again. The ”leadership” aspect of being in black is still shared between Shiro, Keith, and even Allura. Keith’s choked out his fire so it’s easier for him to be in black. At least until he’s healed enough where he feels comfortable and capable to be fire and not burn everything and everyone down.


	4. Comforting Shiro

”Who you were in the arena is not who you are out here, Shiro,” Keith presses his lips against the harsh lines in Shiro’s forehead. Shiro is young, so young. He’s 26 and it’s so, so very young. Young for the gash carved out from cheek-to-cheek across the bridge of his nose, young for raised, angry scars that are only beginning to heal. Young for the trauma of losing all of his right arm. Keith kisses everywhere. He kisses forehead and the scraggles of sideburns and tip of the nose and then lips. A kiss that doesn’t last but a moment, as Shiro has to pull back, breath hiccuping. Keith’s eyes remain closed. He links their foreheads and feels the tears catch on the skin of his own cheeks.

”You were a prisoner of war. Whatever happened there, you did what you had to. Nobody did any different, and nobody would or could.”

Shiro is normally the one with words.

Keith?

He trips over his tongue like it’s lain a trail of rocks for him to tumble over. So he lowers his voice to whisper sweet nonsense. He tells Shiro everything he loves about him. It doesn’t stop the warm wetness from running down their cheeks, but he knows Shiro appreciates it. Or he hopes so. If ever there were a time he hoped to read a situation right, this would that.

The final words, he’s too shy to admit. So he speaks them in Korean. ’I love you.’

Shiro ends up falling asleep on Keith, head rested on Keith’s lap. He knows that he’ll have to tell Shiro again, and again. He’s prepared to. He’ll hold Shiro tightly and brush off tears and say kind words as much as Shiro needs him to. He’ll do it as many times as it takes.


	5. Shiro Grapples with Disease

”Stupid,” he punches the sand, ”fucking,” again, ”hand,” and again. He’s screaming a frustrated cry that’s shredding the muscles of his throat. The sounds echoes through the empty canyon and the Earth responds by a short breeze that lifts up dust.

His right hand lays useless and limp, the digits shriveled together in an immovable fist. Shiro’s left hand is bleeding. But it’s cold out here and he’s stopped feeling it insofar as registering the pain. His mind understands it, the sand burrowing into split-open skin and caking along with the blood, but he doesn’t feel it. Maybe if he could feel it then he wouldn’t be out here. If he could feel it he wouldn’t be striking knuckle to the stones that wedged taught in the sand.

The price of constant composure against his illness is one he pays in blood.

His pulse is sharp and wild. His heart wracks against its cage desperate to break it, to break out, break away. In his haste he forwent a jacket, something integral on a desert winter’s night. Shiro curses himself, his arm, his body, the world, and has to breathe wild and squeeze eyes to not also curse god. His makers were cruel.

He works himself out of energy. He wouldn’t be out here if his body had energy, though.

They’ve rejected him from going to Kerberos. The news came first in a letter. They claimed it was in the name of being official and documenting, but, as Shiro slumps down and onto his back, he understands it was more fear of his reaction than anything. They’re smart. They know his type. They know him. His left palm seizes, muscles contracting around the gaping wound and burns with tiny cuts from the sand. Yeah, the letter was good to ease him into it.

He watches the stars above. It’s a clear night out. So far away from civilization it’s easy to see the display, so many stars, many more than his eyes can see, stretch across everywhich direction. The view is interupted only by the warm fogging of his breath.

Shiro had hopes. Hopes and dreams and plans and action and

Well.

He had hopes. But he’s losing his body. Slowly, he’s losing his body. And no amount of dreaming or wishing or hard work can stop it from slowing down. It’s not a fairytale. It’s not a fable. Willpower cannot change this.

When he was a teenager it was so easy to believe that he could do anything. He was overflowing with determination to be everything he wanted to be. Neither fame nor fortune had his interest. The goal was to fight back against a body that limited him, that was limiting him, more and more everyday. It was to prove to himself that life isn’t hopeless, that he’s not helpless. He just wanted to do what others got to do; Shiro wanted to see his dreams realized.

And for every person that silently was relieved that he wouldn’t go, for all the people who treated him like he was heading himself toward an early death, he wishes they knew. He wishes they knew that the day his disease stops him from doing what he loves, that’s the day he dies. His body may be here. Being rejected may have kept his body here, but in trying to stop his physical death, they’ve killed him in far worse ways.

He closes his eyes to pretend the stars aren’t there.

”I’m already dead.”


	6. Thanksgiving

Shiro and Keith tried to deep fry their turkey and somehow it exploded and now they’re crashing the Holt family’s turkey dinner. Except Allura and Lance are there, too. Hunk made the feast. And then Kolivan, Krolia, and a few Blades just so happened to be visiting Earth. It’s a mess. It’s chaos. Coran gets (accidentally) drunk on the (fermented) fizzy grape drink (read: wine), and he’s loud and full of dad jokes. Sam and Coran have a dad-off and it ends up a draw. Lance somehow manages to rope everyone into a game of Cards Against Humanity. Allura mops the floor with all the others. Kosmo pops in to beg and teleports in and out of the room, all places, hoping that someone, anyone, will have Mercy ™ and feed him. (Spoiler: it’s Keith.) Krolia begins stories of little Keef, and Man Oh Man, ”Mom, please.” Not in front of the bf.

Well,

  
Fiancé, as it ends up Shiro gets on a knee and proposes.


	7. Trans Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: trans Keith, bottom dysphoria

He can’t vanish this. No matter how much he wants to. No matter how much Keith wants him to.

 

”Keith, I know you don’t like talking about it, but, I...” Shiro knocks quietly against their bedroom door, the words lumping together with the thickness in his throat. He thunks his back against the wall and slides down. It’s awkward, his legs long inside their small hallway, he has to fold carefully into himself to fit. Keith’s cries echo from behind the door. Shiro’s glad that Keith is a crier. The man can’t hold onto any emotion, not if he’d casted a rope around them and tied them down.

Shiro hangs his forehead on his knees, they dig into his skin and it’s grounding, at least. He whispers, ”I don’t know how to help.”

He doesn’t.

Something thumps. It doesn’t thump loudly, so it’s probably a pillow or something soft against their closet.

Shiro inhales soft through his nose, or tries, but finishes the breath through his mouth. It’s easy enough for him to work calmly through his own problems, but when it’s Keith? When Keith is hurt? Or scared? Or in need? His visions cuts out and his blood thrums rapidly through veins and breathing is hard and he just wants the monsters to be physical so he could cut them where they stand. But they aren’t. And all he can do bite his cheek and let Keith lead.

He knocks again. ”Baby?” It sounds broken even to his own ears.

Keith sniffs and the sound stills. Silence. A pause. A beat. ”Shiro?” More waiting. A sniffle of snot and clearing of throat. ”Come in. Please.” It’s desperate, a hardened rasp, and that shift is sudden enough that Shiro wonders if Keith even heard him the first time.

The damage is about what he expected. Their pillows are rallyed in front of their closet, their duvee skewed off their bed and trailing after the ammo like their bed made a march to tear down the door but lost morale.

Keith is balled up on the bed, hair dripping onto their sheets, bathrobe haphazardly covering him.

Shiro approaches slow, hand held out, and eases down on to the mattress. He doesn’t need to coax Keith onto his lap, Keith crawls as soon as Shiro is down. Shiro holds Keith. He has an idea of what’s got Keith upset, but he’s not gonna assume.

”Shiro, why is my body- why is it like this?”

This demon Shiro can’t vanish. Keith doesn’t even say the word. Dysphoria.

Keith yells into Shiro’s shoulder, it just makes his voice even more torn. ”Why don’t the surgeries work?”

It’s not that the surgeries don’t work, they both know it. But it’s shorthand for, ”why can’t I just get a cis penis?”, ”why do I have to lose sensation?”, ”why can’t he get it up without a rod and pump implant?”, ”why does it cost nearly what their home did?”, and all the other things Keith’s ever talked about with Shiro, and all the other things Keith’s never told another soul.

This demon Shiro can’t vanish. So he just holds Keith as tight as he can. So he wipes the snot and tears with his sleeve. So he cries with Keith. So they both fall asleep with red, burning eyes and sore throats and achey bodies.

Shiro decides he’ll make breakfast in bed for Keith, just before falling asleep. Sometimes it’s just about doing what he can.

 


	8. Keith Wants Children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: omega keith/capable of pregnancy Keith

Early on in their relationship, Shiro notices Keith light up around kids. Keith will gasp softly and whisper, ”baby,” when they pass one nestled cozily in their carrier at the grocery store. When there’s a kid, babbling away in their high-pitched voice, Keith tightens his grip around Shiro’s hand. He’s got it awful. He runs into doors sometimes. He’ll stop near whatever he’s doing to sigh, or chuckle with warmth. Shiro is certain Keith doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. But perhaps the one that guts Shiro is when they see someone pregnant. Keith pretends he doesn’t notice. It’s a quick glance down and then immediate return to what he was doing. Shiro hasn’t asked yet, feeling the weight of the question, the questions, heavier than a world upon shoulders. Is Keith afraid? Is he incapable of carrying? There are so many things that could lead to such an aching desire being shoved beneath the surface like that. So Shiro places his hand at the small of Keith’s back, knowing Keith will talk when he’s ready.


	9. Keith wants children p2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: omega keith/capable of pregnancy keith

They’re at an iHop at 2am, because Keith swears his palette too refined for Denny’s, when the conversation happens. 

It’s been A Week, to be fair. Shiro and Keith have both been fighting the flu since the previous weekend. Keith was sicker in the beginning but recovered faster than Shiro, though he figures it must be Keith’s galra blood. Being sick brought up so many emotions. For Shiro it was a reminder of times before he left to space, before there was hope or notion of recovery. The first few days saw him panic as he clutched the trashcan against his chest. Keith, on the other hand, isn’t used to being ill. For someone who stays active like Keith does, which is something to say coming from Shiro, being bed-ridden was as good a death sentence. Cabin fever was not kind to Keith. 

Shiro watches him. He’s mopping up the thick, too-bright-to-be-natural syrup with a square of pancake. He’s barely a quarter done with his first pancake on a stack of five. Shiro’s already finished. 

”Keit-,” ”Shir-,” ”-h. Uh, oh. You, uh, you first.” 

Keith hasn’t looked up from his plate yet. The speared piece of pancake crumbling as it’s dragged once more through syrup despite being at syrup capacity. 

”Listen, ok, I’ve- It’s just,you know, we’re new but it just feels like it can’t really wait anymore. I tried. If it’s not something you want then maybe we shouldn’t-”

”-woah, woah there partner. Slow down. I think I know what this about, but I need to make sure. Keith, baby,” Shiro reaches a hand forward and curves it around the one Keith has on the fork, ”Do you want children?” 

Keith snaps his head up and stares wide-eyed. There’s fear and wonder and hope shining brightly in the look. He doesn’t speak but his eyes do. 

”Ok, baby. We can work on your answer but let me give you mine. Keith, I want children. I wanna be a dad, to give my kids all that I never got. They’ll be loved and cared for, and I’m gonna do my best to make them know it. How about you?” 

That’s it. Keith is crying into his sleeve. It’s been such a long week.

”We can talk more later, no pressure. I just wanna know- and you can nod or shake your head, then I’ll let it go- was I right in thinking you wanted kids?” 

Keith nods.

They flag down a waiter and box up the rest of Keith’s dinner. Shiro decides they’ll have a nice cuddle in front of the fireplace, and talk. Talk about the week. Their lives. Their future. A giddiness thrums in his veins as he drives home, thinking about their hypothetical child.


	10. Baby Puffs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: pregnant keith

Shiro slips his bag to the floor and takes those few seconds to prepare to find out what’s happened. Things are hard for Keith right now, and any guess on Shiro’s part ranges from an egregious happenstance at work to an ASPCA commercial having played between shows.

Shiro comes home to find Keith home from work. That’s not what’s so remarkable, they’ve had to cut back his hours in the firestation to not strain his body and therefore the baby. Keith is cranky for it, a man as married to his job as he is his husband, but Shiro is glad that Kolivan actually put his foot down on the matter. No, it’s not that Keith is edgy tonight. It’s as easy for a stranger to gauge Keith’s emotions as it is for him. Keith can’t help but project. If something were under his skin, it would be equally on it.

Instead the man is still. The tv plays quiet, like a friend whispering stories when your head is splitting; it’s a grounding companionship but also a provision of space. Keith is curled around the arm of the coach as much as his belly allows him to. Which is to say that it’s more of a sideways lean with the belly acting as a bumper and keeping him upright. He catches Shiro’s eye, but whips his head back.

His eyes are red and puffy.

Shiro slips his bag to the floor and takes those few seconds to prepare to find out what’s happened. Things are hard for Keith right now, and any guess on Shiro’s part ranges from an egregious happenstance at work to an ASPCA commercial having played between shows.

”Firechief Ri-ri, this is school-teacher Shi-shi, do you copy?” He makes the crackling noise of a radio. Keith’s not actually their station’s chief, nor is he Rihanna. But he loves to work.

Keith smiles. ’Shi-shi’ always gets him. ”I’m fine, Shiro. Just tired.”

But he’s always tired, his body’s growing a new life. ”Babe, it’s ok,” he moves to kneel in front of Keith, tentatively cradling Keith’s hands, his much smaller, and now softer, hands, and kneads a thumb over veins and muscles and bone. Keith remains quiet, which gives Shiro permission to breathe, to create space, to sift through his words with care. Shiro lets his forehead drop to Keith’s belly. When he speaks again, head back and tilted up to watch Keith, to beg him to watch Shiro, he lets the words brush the air gently. ”You can tell me. Even if it’s just to say you’d rather not. But you don’t have to lie, baby. It’s ok.”

The words draw effortless tears down Keith’s face. There’s no twitch of a muscle, nor wrinkling of skin. These are tears that didn’t need making, just releasing.

Keith slowly works his hands out from Shiro’s, they don’t stop to wipe tears, instead the palms draw smooth and reverant around Shiro’s cheeks. Shiro doesn’t pretend to know what Keith’s thinking. The tears pour, but Keith smiles, looking at Shiro.

”This is so stupid,” Keith chuckles through a thickness in his throat, still warm and beautiful to hear, ”I just- I was at the store and saw some of those little tubs of baby food puffs,” he stops and breathes a shuddering breath, ”they just disolve in their mouths.”

Keith doesn’t say more. Sometimes he doesn’t realize that he hasn’t communicated a full idea.

”Did you, baby? And they made you cry?”

”No, I didn’t- yeah. They made me cry. Because I just- Shiro, they’re babies. They- They can choke and die. Shiro they can die if they eat what we eat. I mean they’e just so helpless and-”

”-breathe, it’s ok. I’m here. I’m listening. Take your time-”

”And.. well. Yeah. It’s so stupidly cute but also terrifying.”

Shiro takes a moment, wiping the tears that Keith himself won’t. ”So, you’re scared because babies are pretty reliant on us, huh?” Keith nods. ”But it’s also precious?” He nods again.

”I- I’m just nervous, is all. We weren’t expecting, well. Expecting.” It was a shock when they both found out Keith could become pregnant. Especially by him already being pregnant.

”I think that’s normal, Keith. It’s not stupid.”

Keith snorts, ”yeah, ok. I think you’re just saying that but- thanks, Shiro. Now go get in pjs, I want to give you a massage, you looked stiff this morning.”

Well, Shiro sure can’t argue with that.


	11. Sex

It’s a balancing act between being elated and saddened.

As things heat up, kisses turning to touches, touches turning to strokes, and breaths turning to short punctures of air, Shiro finds he has the urge to lay Keith on his back, take Keith like that so he can watch the pleasure overcome the man, his husband, the one carrying their child. But Keith is heavy, far too far along in the pregnancy to be comfortable on his back. And Shiro would have to have him at the edge of the bed, unable to drape over Keith.

But then he’s behind Keith, the man resting with stratigic pillows, and he’s wrapped his arms around Keith’s middle. Keith’s tighter with the pregnancy, and the angle is already bliss.

He whispers things into Keith’s ear, thick words speaking of how pregnant Keith is, how he’d breed Keith if Keith weren’t already big with his child, the kind of things that are birthed from an alpha with desire for their omega.

Any such initial protest he’s had with himself, that it can;t be as intimate or as fulfilling having Keith from behind, is thrown out the window as Keith milks him of everything he has.

They finish, breathless. Laughing for no other reason than copulation is ridiculous and strange. The very few times Shiro sees himself become what’s expected of him, what they say of someone whose alpha, is in the bedroom with Keith. As equally, Keith commands so much of Shiro’s attention and direction, but is every bit an omega with his clothes off.


	12. Silly sex

What if Shiro is gettin some head, Keith giving him the good succ ™ , as he’s wont to do, but he’s so tired from a mission that he ends up falling asleep.

Like Keith?

He is a cock worshipper. He knows how to use his lips, tongue, and sometimes throat, and he *loves* doing it. He’s maddeningly good at it, because he gets so focused.

So it’s not until he feels Shiro going soft in his mouth, and hears light snores, that he realizes it. Shiro fell asleep. Of course, Keith takes it in stride, glad to comfort Shiro until the man was lulled into rest. He scoops Shiro up, lays him gently down on their bed, and changes his clothes, then tucks him in with a kiss to the forehead.

Shiro is mortified, at least until a few weeks later, when keith, having also worked his tail off, falls asleep on his knees, dick still in his mouth like he’d fallen asleep sucking on a pacifier. He treats Keith in kind, returning him to their bed and getting him comfortable.


	13. Saved Until Marriage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based off a nsfw pic by ConfusedSwede  
> Will post link or imbed upon gaining permission. The pic will likely be deleted from tumblr.

”Well, uh, this- this is it.”

Shiro’s not usually one to trip over words, but he’s also not one usually getting married, either. Keith stands next to him, short and small, with the various wedding trinkets braided into his pleated hair. He’s clothed in just the under layer of his gown from the ceremony. The outfit had been intricate and heavy, requiring assistance from the omega’s chosen attendee. Before Keith could meet Shiro at their bedroom, he had to be undressed, and then escorted down the hall in revealing silks.

It was a bit archaic, and perhaps too uncomfortably remnant of Earth’s customs for marriage, specifically for women, but Kolivan handed Keith off like a bride.

”Ok.” Keith’s voice is the delicate, honeyed-rasp that Shiro had come to fall for. He’s fidgeting with his braid, tapping along the golden rings that parts of his hair are looped into. The rise and fall of his chest is like the beginnings of a storm, where the waters swell and receed with gaining momentum. Beneath the silk, Shiro can make out the peaks of swollen nipples.

He closes his eyes for a brief moment before ushering Keith in and shutting them off from the world around them. Keith always manages to hold Shiro’s attention like the rest of existence goes on pause. He expects tonight will be no different.

”Shiro, you ok?”

Ok?

He’s married the man beyond anything his dreams could ever conjure up. Somehow Shiro holds Keith’s attention the same way Keith does his. And the tension that’s kept Shiro up at night, aching to touch Keith and dispel, is finally allowed to work itself out. He’s going to lay his husband down gently and join with him in the one way he hasn’t.

”I’m just nervous.” Shiro chuckles.

”Oh, thank Creator. Me too.” Keith lightly punches Shiro on the back, and the nerves are washed away.

They go from laughter to kissing, to undressing, to mapping spaces with hands and tongues, to unity.

It’s awkward and strange, and way too much, but also not enough.

There’s tears, falling from Shiro onto Keith’s cheeks, collecting with the other’s own.

It’s over too soon.

Shiro falls asleep to Keith curved around him; forehead low on his shoulder blades, in order for their legs to slot together. He cries some more. Keith’s breath is hot and calming against his naked skin.


	14. Oblivious Keith

But what if Keith is so oblivious that he never realized men could have sex with each other?

One day on their way back to Earth, lion to themselves, Shiro and Keith end up kissing desperately, turning to making out, then heavy petting. From there it keeps happening, until one day Keith, nearly in tears, apologizes to Shiro for not being a woman. Of course Shiro stops and, after a few tries, is able to get Keith to explain what he means by that. Keith, actually jn tears by then, is breaking down as he tells Shiro about a need he doesn’t understand, an vague empty feeling, that his body is begging him to plea with Shiro over, but he doesn’t have the right parts.

Shiro, confused, but mostly devastated, realizes that Keith has spent his whole life feeling wrong, and had no idea how men have sex.

It’s a bit embarassing for him to explain, because Keith burns scarlet and stammers, ”W..where? But- Shiro, that’s. I- That’s where...” but Shirois nothing if not a patient and understanding teacher.

He takes it slow. A few tries before Keith is comfortable with the firm press of a large thumb on his rim. A few more and times later and he’s petting, rubbing gently, until Keith relaxes the tip inside. It’s a week for Keith to take the whole thumb, a couple days before Shiro tries gentle thrusts. Hard work, communication, and trust, and it’s not more than a month before Keith is on his back, legs spread wide, and he’s asking for the thing he’s wanted all along.

Shiro’s big.

He’s really big. Far larger, in length, and especially in girth, than average.

He helps Keith remember to breathe. He kisses him, massages his chest, and tugs gentle at Keith’s waning erection, until it’s full and dripping, and he’s being asked to move.

”Shiro,” he says, voice rough and deep and needy, and the man above him drinks the sound in like he’s parched, ”You’re inside me.”

And damned if that isn’t a blatant call to it being more than some act for pleasure.

Shiro doesn’t last long. Between those words replaying, ’I’m inside Keith’ he wants to choke on his own sons, and the soft moans and little gasps from Keith, he cums violent. Keith, already sensitive for being new, with the added feeling of Shiro twitching at his walls, laying them with a layer of thick, hot cum, follows soon after.

Keith is gorgeous in his afterglow (Shiro wonders how one man can keep getting more attractive). He’s quiet, eyes lidded, movement slow. He looks like a man who has had his every wish come true. Though, judging from what Keith’s said, and the thought of how long Keith has gone unknowing how to satiate a primal desire he”s had, it’s probably exactly the case.

It wasn’t Shiro’s first rodeo, so to speak, but sharing that with someone he loves, the person most important, most precious, makes every other time seem meaningless, just an itch scratched. Not one for tears, the man still finds himself crying anyways.

Keith pulls him into his arms, cradling Shiro’s head to his chest. With what energy he has left, he hums.

Shiro falls asleep to the steady beat of Keith’s heart.

 


	15. Shower smut

The team was helping tidy the castleship for a diplomatic meeting. Shiro and Keith were in charge of the hanger. They’re sweaty and grimy from scrubbing off the oil and dirt that’s been tracked in from their Lions. It takes hours; as the hangar has to be large enough to fit the whole of Voltron.

They have a celebratory dinner, that’s really more a pre-game to the party that will happen tomorrow.

Shiro manages to sneak a bottle of the space equivalent to champagne out of the banquette hall and into the room he now shares with Keith. He plans to surprise Keith during his shower, and then have some of the drink while they bathe.

Keith starts his shower. Shiro enters not 5 minutes later to Keith bent over and scrubbing at his calves with soap. The shower isn’t that hot, not that steamy, but Shiro feels a flush and new sweat heat at his skin. He licks his lips, seeing Keith’s exposed backside.

Shiro wastes no time climbing in behind Keith, whom just chuckles warmly.

”You knew I was there? Is that why you bent over?” He breathes low into Keith’s ear, slotting behind him to rub his growing interest between cheeks.

”Of course not.” His voice is raspy and it brings Shiro to full hardness.

”Mmm, and you just happened to lube up?” He presses the head of his cock against the entrance. It’s slick, with liquid much thicker than soap or water.

”Oops.”

Shiro fucks him long and hard, and Keith has to grip the handrail and side of the tub, bent in half, to keep from banging his head against the stall.


	16. Frantic

The team stops for supplies on a planet on their way to Earth. Keith and Shiro have been dancing around the confession since they left. It’s been hard, with Krolia sharing the space with the two, to acknowledge their growing need to touch each other. Krolia, sensing this, tells them to stay behind and rest, while the team stocks up.

She’s not out the lion 5 minutes yet and they fall into desperate kisses.

The weight of all that’s happened crashes down on them. Shiro, having not had a physical body, nor contact, for at least a year, not too long after escaping Galra imprisonment, yearns to touch Keith, to be inside him, move with him.

Keith, away for two years, wondering what could possibly be happening outside the pocket in time he’s in. Worrying about Shiro, the team, and the war, but unable to do anything. It had been so long since he’d seen Shiro, factoring in his time with the BoM. When Shiro asks, he crumbles, begging with the same hysteria as when he begged the clone to stop.

It’s Keith’s first time, but it’s not Shiro’s. So he tries to convince Keith they take it slow, that Shiro work him open first. Keith’s seen Shiro by then, he’s thick and long, balls heavy. He begs Shiro to just do it.

They could have died, Keith is thinking, what’s a bit of pain if it means Shiro can bring their bodies together sooner?


	17. Scene

Scene: Shiro, the prince, and Keith, his princess, are overlooking the royal garden from a balcony. A few people are tending to shrubbery below. Keith has his hands holding on to the top of the wall. Shiro is behind him.

Shiro approachs Keith.

Shiro: I may one day rule this kindgom, but it is you that rules me. So, in a way, you are our true leader.

Shiro presses against Keith’s back. He’s taller and much wider. He leans his head down and brushes his lips against Keith’s neck.

Keith shivers but otherwise doesn’t move.

Shiro’s hands lift the fabric of Keith’s long, wide-bottomed dress, pulling it up in the back. Anyone below would be unable to see, blocked by the stone of the wall that is solid up to Keith’s thighs.

Shiro: You never wear your under-dressings, now why is that?

Shiro spits on his fingers and works them inside Keith, who is already loosened from the previous night’s romp.

Shiro: I’m going to take you here. We’re going to be quiet, and no one will ever realize they’ve been watching me satisfy you. I will serve you, my love, my ruler. But only if that is your wish.

Keith, with a honeyed-rasp: Please, Shiro. Now.

Shiro works his trousers down enough to expose himself.

He bites around a groan as he first pushes in.

Keith leans further on the railing, careful to stay upright to not give away their activity.

Shiro works into him until he’s spilling seed.

Keith loses himself into the silks of the dress he’s pressed into.

Shiro: Someone’s in need of a laundering.

Shiro gives a swift smack to Keith’s backside.

Keith: You’re going to back away slowly, then hasten to my private chamber. You shall wait unclothed. I will remain out here for a few more minutes. Prepare yourself as you wait. I am going to lay you deep into my bedding for that comment.

Shiro tries to not run to Keith’s bedroom.


	18. Keith’s first time topping (angst)

The thing about Keith, Shiro has noticed, is that he wants things fast and hard. He wants Shiro to nail him to the wall with a good pounding. He wants to be derailed, distressed, and put into disarray. Outside of the bedroom, he’s fierce and leading. But inside, he wants to give up power, he wants it (consentually) taken from him. It’s healing. So, it’s not much of a surprise when Shiro is laid down, clothes gently worked off his skin from small hands, and lips pepper along whereever they can reach, that Shiro asks him if he’s ok.

Keith moves back, hands braced between their chest, legs comically wide to straddle the man so much larger than he. His head cocks to the side, eyebrows press together the skin between them. Violet eyes are gazing into his own slate grey.

Keith leans forward and moves his hands away so they can cup Shiro’s face.

”I would never touch something precious with hard hands.”

It implies a whole other set of values about how Keith thinks about himself, but Shiro knows time to address it will come later. For the moment, Keith is looking upon him like he’s a glass sculptor; beautiful, but far too easy to break. Keith doesn’t want to break him.

Shiro feels, for maybe the first time in his life, that someone is looking upon him and seeing something fragile, something vulnerable. This man, tiny body splayed across him, big, wide eyes, delicately carved face, is looking at him, large, scarred, disfigured, and seeing something that inspires him to be gentle.

He would cry, but Keith might break in that moment. His vulnerability, weakness, is tied to keeping Shiro whole cared for, treasured. If he breaks now, he’s taking Keith with him.

Shiro leans in to kiss him.

It continues through everything Keith does. The fore play is thorough. Keith works Shito on fingers until he’s open enough that Keith could fit his fist in. He’s generous with lube, stopping and reapplying until it’s hard to chase the friction. It’s almost nauseating, the gentle pace Keith uses. Shiro can only take so much of the slow drag of the head followed by an equally slow thrust forward.

He’s about to voice that it’s ok, that he won’t break, when Keith sniffles quietly. The large, hot tears rain on Shiro’s chest.

Keith is afraid.

He’s terrified.

Keith’s cum fills him, and the sensation is dizzying.

”Shiro, are you ok?” Keith asks the second he’s pulled out. As if he’d hammered the man into the mattress.

”I’m not going to break.”

Keith is settled behind Shiro. The hair on his forehead tickles Shiro’s back; Keith is too short to line-up both their legs and torsos. Strong, and muscled (though still miles smaller than Shiro’s) arms are holding him tight around the middle.

”I know.” 


	19. Youtuber au 2

Shiro loves being in the recording room when Keith is playing a game. No matter how frustrated or aggressive the other gets, he never curses. It’s something that’s always charmed Shiro, that no matter how bad boy Keith looks or acts he’s actually soft. His father was a firefighter and a regular southern gentleman. At least, that’s what Keith says of him. Keith’s face has a tender look when he talks about his late dad.

”Why would you do that?” Keith gripes at the bad guy on the screen whose just squashed his character into the ground.

It’s cute. Shiro wants to tell him that that is what the bad guy is supposed to do but he doesn’t want to interupt the recording. Instead he decides to close his eyes and listen.

He can tell how Keith is doing just from his voice. He’s a chatterbox when he plays and he has poor volume control. His voice breaks as he exclaims something at the game. Keith’s throat sounds raw but also like it’s drowning in thick, sweet honey.

When Shiro’s having a bad time he asks Keith to talk to him. Keith will talk him to sleep. Keith’ll make up stories as they cook breakfast. Keith starts karaoke in the shower while Shiro shaves his face. He whispers gentle affirming things when they’re making love and somehow he’s read that Shiro needs those words. That voice reaches Shiro no matter how far in his mind he finds himself.

”Yes, yes! Thank you! I- Sorry dude, but I have to reach the castle before fhe stars fall.” Keith sounds genuinely apologetic to whatever he’s just reached victory over. ”Here, I’m dropping a potion for you.” Shiro knows people are going to comment, telling Keith that the boss can’t drink it. He makes a mental note to moderate the comment’s section before Keith can see it. Shiro’s grateful they made a shared channel.

Shiro dozes off. Keith’s voice is like a blanket tucking him safely into bed.


	20. Sex Worker Au

”Well, daddy, c’mon. You didn’t pay me just to look at my face,” Keith taps his cheek with a pointer finger, ”I know you want to hear how it’ll sound.”

Shiro gulps. He’s starting to question the decision to buy the man’s time. Keith, if that is his real name, had caught Shiro’s attention from the moment he came into view. Tight black short-shorts cupped his ass and fishnets molded around thick, muscled legs. He had a leather jacket on that seemed more for aesthetic, given the nakedness of his bottom half, or else maybe the bottom half was the aesthetic, either way it screamed a story. One that Shiro was desperate to read. And no matter how deep the scowl on his face was, that man had something about him that said was soft, gentle.

Though, Shiro thinks that may be from watching the man sob as he vomitted in the dirty alleyway. No amount of spikes on the jacket could harden the vulnerability he’d seen.

But looking at Keith now, poised across the stained couch like a cat, he thinks he’s in over his head.

”Ugh,” Keith scoffs and yanks Shiro close by his metal arm, ”Stop playing coy. You’re not the first to want to rough me up, you won’t be the last.”

Yeah, he is in over his head, ”Excuse me? I- Hold up,” he tries to pull his arm back but the man is stronger than he looks. ”I’m not here to-..”

”To what?” The man maneuvers his body so that he’s crawling halfway onto the metal arm. Shiro doesn’t get it, just follows the movement down to his knees, until small fingers cup his hand around- oh. ”You bought a hooker, there’s only one thing you do that for. And right now you’re wasting my time. What is it, piss? You wanna piss on me? Slap me? Choke me? Throat fuck me?” 

”Hold on-,” he tugs on his arm and they both go flying backwards. ”Stop this. I don’t wanna fuck you.”

The look on Keith’s face is ice. ”Oh. I get it now. You’re here to save me, huh? Rescue me from my pitiful life on the streets. I’m your charity case. Or else you’re trying to get me out of here so you can be my sugar daddy. And it’ll be all well and dandy, at least until you ask for things in return. Soon enough I’ll be your slave, guilted into taking care of your every whim. Well- At least until I refuse, and then the beatings sta-”

”Hold. Up.” Shiro nearly yells and claps Keith’s face into his palms. ”I just- I wanted to ask you- Look, no. None of that. I saw you crying earlier and I just wanted to know if you were ok.”

”...You bought a hooker, just to ask if they’re ok?”

That does sound kind of extra in that perspective.

”You’re dumb and made of money. Tell you what, Mr. Wallet, come back three more times, and I’ll answer you on the fourth.” 


	21. Hanahaki (Character Death)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on this piece by   
> ConfusedSwede :  
> https://confusedswede.tumblr.com/post/176197882605/hanahaki-sheith

’It’s ok,’ Keith tells himself, ’I just have a tickle in the throat.’

He’s staring at the picture of him and Shiro together, with the written promise ofseeing Keith when he gets back. It’s the day of the launch.

’I should get throat drops for this cough,’ he thinks. His throat is scratchy and he wants to reach something in and scrape it.

He passes by the poster in the hallway that has Shiro saluting on it. He’s been gone a week.

Keith, never one to let sickness stay him, puts in extra hours after classes. It’s also helpful for keeping his mind away from Shiro. It’s been one month.

On the one hand, he’s doing the best he’s ever done. He’s shattered Shiro’s scores in the sim, and rebracketed his own twice over. But that humming of energy, the one telling him to keep moving, keep going, keep working, is turning toxic in his veins. The poison is washing over him like the tides crash against the rocks and cliffs on the seasides. He’s hardly sleeping anymore. Two months have passed.

It’s not sustainable. Keith collapses one day during a sim. He doesn’t remember much except that he was in the garrison’s hospital for a few days. They say it was lack of sleep and nutrition that did him in. ’When did I forget to eat?’ He had wondered unable to remember needing to remember to do it. The doctor forces him to cut down his hours outside of class. 4 months have come and went. 

Keith does rest more. But resting means thinking. And thinking means he’s preoccupied with Shiro. He cries and cries and cries. It must shred his throat because it’s sore again. Half a year and they must be halfway there now.

The first time he vomits it grabs him from sleep and he barely makes it to the toilet in time. It’s near inconsequential, he could have eaten something turned or else come down with the flu. Except it doesn’t stop. He gives it a week, then two, sure that it’s a virus by then, but it keeps happening. There’s blood in it. The doctors have no idea what’s wrong with him. It’s approaching the 8 month since launch. 

Lacerations show up on his neck, forcing them to scan him. They still don’t know what’s wrong, only that these cuts began inside the throat and have grown to the surface. He wears turtlenecks to hide the bandages. 10 long months are behind them.

The news hits him like brick has slammed him to the ground and piled atop him. His air quality is low these days. He’s got tubes running through his nose and a portable oxygen tank, as well as drains that are camoflauged under his sweater to keep him from choking on his own blood. But somehow he finds himself unable to breath. He chokes anyways. It’s been almost a year when he finds out that the waiting will never end.

He rips out the tubes that night and dies suffocating on his own blood, the photograph clutched in his hand.

 


	22. We Happy Few Au (Sex Worker Keith)

”Have you taken your joy today?”

Shiro watches down at Keith. The man is sprawled across the bench with his head falling limply from side-to-side. The words themselves are slow and half-formed. A small part of Shiro gets a chuckle out it thinking back to their youth when Keith would blow him from beneath the bleachers after matches. Keith has little filter and attempts to talk even if his mouth is stuffed full of Shiro. But the larger part of Shiro’s thoughts are that Keith is sat on a bench high out of his mind on Joy and he likely couldn’t recognize Shiro if he wanted to.

”Hello, mister. I as’ed a question,” Keith giggles at something. He waves a hand through the air in front of him like he’s swatting away a bug. ”I could give you some joy, y’know,” Joy is readily available at a booth across the way. Keith isn’t talking about the pill.

”Keith?”

”’ow do you know my name, then?” There’s a brief moment of a spark igniting in those eyes, those eyes wide and their pupils blown. Even under so much Joy there’s hope that Keith may still be in there somewhere. ”Oh, unless- Wow. Ok, alright. The hotels in the central area are expensive but not so much a few blocks away.” He blinks at Shiro and corrects his posture. The Joy must be wearing off because Keith begins to look stiff.

”Keith, no- I’m not- I just-” remembered you, but I can’t say that or you’ll know I’m off my Joy, ”- Heard that I should come check on you. See if you’re safe- Not that you wouldn’t be. Just. Yeah.”

It’s hard to read Keith’s expression from under the mask. Shiro can only go by his eyes, which his lids are currently dipping into. He can imagine thick eyebrows bunching up the skin between themselves.

”...You’re not here to buy anything?” Keith wiggles until he’s sitting fully upright. ”Wait, do I know you?”

”No, I just wanted to see if you’re alright.” He can’t think of anything else to say to Keith. How can he say, ”We were lovers before the war. I wanted to take you away from this all, to a place it wouldn’t matter that we were together. I would’ve sailed the oceans to find it, just as long as it meant having you”? So he turns on his heel. Sick with the thought of buying Keith’s love for the night. After so many nights he’d laid down beside Keith and loved him, he couldn’t handle touching Keith while he’s drugged up.

Keith’s hand, larger now, but still so small against Shiro, grabs tight against his sleeve. 

Shiro turns back to him and regards him. A little bit of the fog has cleared from his eyes now.

”Wait, I, uh. Don’t go. Please.”

Shiro sits down next to Keith. The bench isn’t terribly large but neither is Keith. Their thighs touch and it burns Shiro’s skin like the desert sun kisses his body.

They stay in comfortable silence. At least, silent amongst each other. Keith mummers some things here and there.

When Keith starts getting paranoid, Shiro asks him what flavor he likes, and Keith grits through clenched teeth that he likes vanilla. Shiro gets up and retrieves a Joy for Keith, who has begun to scratch at his arms and look around wildly.

In a split second decision, Shiro places the pill between his lips and brings them against Keith’s. He uses his tongue first to push the pill in, which Keith swallows greedily, and then returns to search that mouth. He hopes not to get any residue, but tasting Keith again is worth it. If a bit shameful for him to do. So he doesn’t linger.

They part with a strand connecting them and breath ragged.

”Wow, mister,” Keith whispers breathless, eyes lidded. There’s a pause, then.

”Have you taken your Joy today?”


	23. Wolf Sanctuary

Keith works at the Wilderness, a wolf sanctuary that Shiro brings his class on a trip to.

”Keith?” Shiro blinks at the man that’s crouched between the wolves trying to run a comb through the fur of one of them. He man is taller, larger, and almost all of his baby features have gone in favor of angles. A deep, pink keloid splits from the bottom of his chin and up through his right eye which is clouded over. ”Kogane?” 

The man swivels his head. ”Shiro?” It’s deeper and smoother but still raspy and honeyed.

It’s Keith.

”Mister shiwo?” Hannah, one of his shyer students, tugs on his sleeve.

He looks down to her and sees her pointing at the wolf. She’s tucked behind his leg and looking back and forth between Keith and the wolf.

”That’s a sca’wy dog. Mister are you ok?” Though she’s shivering she’s inching closer and closer to getting out from behind legs.

Keith laughs and it’s so warm and full. ”Hey there, I’m ok. This big guy here is Kosmo, with a ”k,” he loves kid. Would you like to pet him?” 

Shiro tells her it’s ok and they walk over slowly. She grabs Shiro’s hand and he squeezes to let her know that everything’s fine. Keith extends his hand and waits letting her decide if she trusts him enough. ”I’ll show you how to pet this guy to get his leg to shake.”

The two of them get their hands and arms lost in the fur of the wolf. The wolf’s leg does start to scratch at the air and erupts them both into rorious laughter. 

”My name is Keith, by the way. You were very brave to try something new, I hope you enjoyed petting him.” Keith’s on his knees talking at her eye-level.

”Thanks mister Keef, I’m Hannah. Did Kosmo give you that?” She touches the scar on Keith’s face.

Shiro feels himself still, the muscles of his shoulder pull taught and his jaw constricts. He meets Keith’s gaze at it moves towards his.

But there’s no harshness there. There’s no anger or blame or resentment. Instead, Keith smiles soft. The skin at the courner of his eyes crinkle in the faintest hint of laugh lines. And dimples dot his cheeks. He turns back to Hannah with all the same tenderness, ”No, Ms. Hannah. An old friend and I used to get into silly trouble.”

She nods and thanks him, heading back to Shiro’s side.

”My lunch is in about 20, Mr. Shirogane. Why don’t we take it together?”

Shiro smiles. ”I’ll Mrs. Coco take over for me.”

”I’ll be in the lunch hall by the gift shop. Let’s catch up there.”

”I’d like that.”


	24. Holiday 1

”That’s... a pickle?” Keith turns his head along with the ornament that’s grasped delicately in his claws. It’s a vibrant green and has nodes up and down it. ”Or else it’s a dil-”

”-Keith, yes. It’s a pickle.” Shiro laughs deep from his belly. It’s a laugh that warms the room. At least for Keith it does. ”It’s... There’s just- The christmas pickle. I don’t know. I got it the first Christmas when I moved here from Japan.”

Keith feels his ear twitch and he ruffles his nose. ”This tree thing is weird. You hang a glass pickle from its plastic branches and a large man barters things you request for cookies and cow milk.”

”Yeah, I thought it was just as strange at first.”

He pauses and regards Shiro. Humans and their culture are in many ways so different. He still doesn’t understand the point of what they’re doing right now. The radio plays softly in the background singing of things that Keith has no clue about. What’s a chestnut? And why were they so cruel to Rudolf?

But there’s a twinkle in Shiro’s eye that’s more than the reflection of the blinking lights on strands that they’ve looped around the ”tree”.

Keith looks down at the pickle and then back to Shiro, ”Show me where this one goes?”

Shiro guides Keith, left hand large around his, and the gold band glinting from the lights, and right hand pointing. Keith repeats this for the rest of the ornaments. He may not understand Christmas but, for his husband, he’s going to do his best.

At least the mistletoe thing is something he can get behind.


	25. Help Her Lead

”Keith, if I don’t make it out of here, I want you to help the team welcome Allura into Black,” his throat feels scraped like the soft muscle met sandpaper. It’s difficult to breath. When he breathes his ribcage opens and when it opens the torn flesh expands across the exposed bone. He looks at Keith from the courner of his vision. ’You’ve been a good right hand,’ he wants to say. Keith has trouble fitting in. And the others seem to bristle around him, except for Shiro and Allura. Something twists in his gut, perhaps a pang of jealousy, or else his gut actually twisting. ”You two are gonna make quite the pair out there.”

Keith is Keith and he huffs and denies Shiro leaving. ”Quit talking like that,” his voice sounds raw too, but it trembles with more emotion, ”You’re gonna make it.”

’No, Keith. I’m not. Keith, I’m dying. Keith, I lo-’ the courner of Shiro’s mouth draws softly upward. He chuckles and then lets himself fall into a nap, trusting Keith will take them to safety.


	26. Holiday Proposal p1

Shiro can’t wrap for shit.

Good Lord does he try. He’s watched Keith plenty of times as he expertly folds the delicate paper into an elegant covering. Keith doesn’t even need to watch his hands, either, he just chats away with Shiro and works his magic. And though Keith will be anything encouraging, ”You did good, buddy. Look at that courner. That’s a sharp courner,” Shiro knows. About the only time Keith gets ’bro’ with him is when he’s not quite telling the truth. So Keith is the official present wrapper.

Only this time Shiro can’t let Keith see even the outline of the gift.

Thank God the jewelers have thought about nearly everything. The engagement ring gets nested like a Russian doll in box upon box until it appears to be some kind of chocolates.

Shiro writes that it’s from Santa. ’A dad joke,’ he’s gonna say if he’s not choked with emotion, or worse, instantly rejected, ’To prepare you for the future with me.’

But he’s already in tears as he lays the box beneath their tree.


	27. Holiday Proposal p2

”Here, you first, Big Guy,” Keith’s eyes are reflecting the sparkles of the lights strung around the tree, a flat, oblong package large in his small hands, he never quite grew as much as he’d hoped, ”So, there’s- it’s a, uh, long story.”

Shiro leans in to take the package and leaves a firm kiss atop Keith’s head. The two sit down. He works quick on the wrapping paper and peels off the lid to the box beneath it. In it is a fuzzy scarf that looks like, ”Is this cashmere?” He removes it gingerly, letting the rest of the box tumble to the floor. He’d know that feeling anywhere, ”My mom had-”

”-a coat made of cashmere. Passed down the Shirogane matriach?” The lights twinkle off Keith’s smiles.

”I- When did I tell you that?”

He winks.

”Ok, I’ll bite, then. What’s the story?”

Keith launches into the tale. When he’d visited his mom in Korea earlier that year they’d gone hiking together. On the trail they ran into an elderly woman who recognized Keith, ”It was so strange,” he recounts, but the woman told him that she’d purchased one of his paintings. ”I looked over at mom and she reminded me that I’d sent her some pieces to sell,” he continues a bit tangentially about going back to the woman’s house and how the house was decorated. Shiro laughs quiet.

”So, it turns out, she’s a crafter and she just had this cashmere lying around that she had always meant to use but, yknow, never found the time,” Shiro loves this man. His man, hopefully. But there’s only so much he can listen to at any one time. Besides that the nerves are starting to buzz all over his body. ”-And so she helped me knit this for you. Uh, anyways. That’s my gift. Hope you like it.” 

”I love it, thank you,” he gently pulls Keith towards him and rests their foreheads together. He hums and closes his eyes, ”I love you.” He’s faced monsters before but he’s never felt the kind of terror he feels in that moment. Their house is cool, the morning cooler, but sweat is gathering at his brow. His hands are trembling. The next few moments are a risk, one he’s fought himself over taking, but the elation of hearing, ”Yes,” and later, ”I do,” are too sweet, too tempting, for Shiro to never take the leap.

”You’re scaring me here, Muscles.”

He wants to say something reassuring but his throat feels like he’d used the scarf to strangle himself. He’s really glad that the tag has a joke.

Keith snorts as he reads it, ”Ok, Space Dad. You’re a two-for-one special, Daddy.”

If all goes well he’s gonna have Keith screaming that last word as Shiro shoves him down into the mattress and gives him a good pounding. Something something about Keith being a naughty boy this year. But that’s if he says yes.

Oh God, please say yes.

He can forgo the sex- Well, no. That’s not true. Sex with Keith is wonderful and tender and stupid. It’s laughing at accidental farting. It’s making silly noises. It’s the occassional cry because it’s so good. And the occassional cry because it’s just that everything else is bad, but don’t stop, please, I need this. It’s the sweet snuggles afterwards when they’re both spent and all they can do is enjoy each other’s body heat in the quiet of their room. It’s certainely part of it. 

”Calm down, I’ll unwrap *that* present later,” he smiles all smarmy like, ”Daddy.” Keith unfolds the paper at the tape.

Whether or not he means to, the pace is driving Shiro nuts. One part of him is imagining how handsome Keith will look in his white tux. His hair will be groomed back into a ponytail and it will be the one time anyone sees Keith look neat and tidy. His cheeks will glow pink after they enjoy a glass of the champagne. Damned Asian Glow. Damned if it won’t look beautiful on Keith.

Keith snorts as he opens the first box, ”I’ve always wanted a box.”

They’ll approach Allura. They’ll tell the queen how honored they’d be to have her as the surrogate to their child. Well and truly. Whomever their kid becomes they’ll be strong and compassionate, loyal and humble, and, just like their mom, a gift to anyone that knows them.

”And another box?” Keith turns the package over and over, nose crinkled, as he inspects it.

They’ll grow old together.

Keith pries it open to reveal another box.

Shiro will stay strong and fit to help Keith, even in their golden years. Even though Keith has been and will always be stronger whether he’ll show it or not.

”Ok, dude, it was funny the first few boxes. This is- it’s getting really small. Is there anything even in it?” He huffs.

Shiro’s surprised by Keith’s patience thus far. But it’s held out as long as it’s needed to.

Keith opens one more and inside is the ring box. He goes quiet. He looks to Shiro and then away.

It’s hard to convince his voice to work so it comes out somewhat raspy, ”Keith, I- All this time. You’ve been here for me all this time. Through everything. You’ve been here. I- I love kissing you in the mornings, even with morning breath. And I laugh when you fart during sex-” Fuck, fuck, fuck, he’s fucking this up, ”-uhm, I mean. You know. I also fart. It’s ok to- Fuck. Shit. Keith will you marry me?”

Keith’s head is tucked forward and his bangs are shielding his face. His shoulders are shaking. When he looks up, there’s tears running soft down his cheeks. He’s laughing, then he’s sobbing, then he’s laughing again.

Shiro can’t move.

”You-” he sniffs, ”- are so dumb. I fucking love you. I love you and your stupid fucking farts and your horrid breath in the morning. I- Fuck- Shiro, yes. I should be asking you that. I’m the one who should be worried and unsure. Marry me, Shiro.”

Keith throws himself at Shiro.

They weep. And weep. And weep. Shiro can’t tell what the wetness on his face is, tears or snot, much less who it came from. But it’s wonderful and beautiful and if this is the price to marrying Keith than he’ll gladly take a face full of the man’s snot.

”Come on, Daddy. Let’s go get cleaned up. I still have a present to unwrap.”

Damned if that hand doesn’t look so much better around him with that ring on it.


End file.
